


Beautiful Boys Became Ash

by citrusfriend



Series: Poetry [29]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Canon Queer Character of Color, Coming of Age, Gay Male Character, Homophobia, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Mild Sexual Content, Minor Violence, Poetry, Queer Culture, Queer History, Queer Themes, Rage, Revolution, Riots, Trans Male Character, Transgender, about being gay and being angry bc all we want is to love, and queerphobia made love a revolutionary act, idk a poem about fighting for gay rights, so we will revolt with everything we fucking have
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28607685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/citrusfriend/pseuds/citrusfriend
Summary: You said the beautiful boys were born to burnand we say the world must burn with us,must smoulder with the grief and the ragefor all the beautiful boys who never became men.
Series: Poetry [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1320233
Kudos: 2





	Beautiful Boys Became Ash

**Author's Note:**

> Yes this is referencing Richard Siken's "You're in the car with a beautiful boy" poem

Beautiful boys became prey,  
became both the fire wood  
_and_ the game they cooked in the fire at once.  
Beautiful boys became angry,  
became both the martyrs   
_and_ the revolution that would light the world at once.  
You said the beautiful boys were born to burn  
and we say the world must burn with us,  
must smoulder with the grief and the rage  
for all the beautiful boys who never became men.

Is this what it is like to be a boy?  
Just a boy, never a man,  
never daring to extend so far.  
I just wanted to be a boy  
with another boy;  
we would think we were sinners,  
would love regardless  
and would make each other into _gods_ for us heretics.  
We would pray into each other's necks,  
would worship each other in the quiet.  
I wanted him to pray to a boy,  
I wanted him to pray for all the other boys,  
and I did not mind us being sinners.  
After all, it is a _boy_ I love, not god. _Never_ god.  
Being a sinner is nothing compared to my flame.  
Is this what it is like to be queer?

My boy was never allowed to be   
and I was never allowed to be a boy.  
We never wanted to be soldiers.  
We never asked to be leaders.  
All any of us wanted  
was to love, to pray, to be queer,  
to be boys--or to not be.

You tore our altars from our homes  
and used us and them as _fire wood,_  
so we built new ones out of timber and bone  
with our bare hands,  
our limp wrists.  
We now pray at the foot of the guillotine we made for you,  
scream prayers on the street  
since whispering them into sheets  
was no longer an option.  
We never wanted to be a revolution.  
We just wanted to live.  
This is what it is like to be queer.

**Author's Note:**

> 1/6/21


End file.
